House Republicans look to rewrite rules to give members more voice

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are using the coming departure of Speaker John Boehner to agitate for new structures and procedures that may limit the power of whoever takes the gavel from him.

Boehner announced at the end of September that he plans to step down Oct. 30, setting up a scramble for a handful of leadership positions within the House Republican Conference. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 ranking Republican, is considered the favorite to become the next speaker, though he is being challenged by Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida and Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah.

McCarthy's elevation would mean that the leader position would be open, and Steve Scalise of Louisiana — currently third in line as Majority Whip — is running for leader, as is Georgia's Tom Price, who once led the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Boehner announced Monday that he has scheduled a House vote Oct. 29 for the speaker, and then the new speaker will set dates for the GOP members to choose the remainder of the leadership team. Republicans plan to meet Thursday to settle on a candidate for speaker, the only leadership position that requires a full House vote.

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Beyond the jockeying for various top positions, rank-and-file conservatives are pushing for a series of rules changes that would give them a larger role in setting the legislative agenda for the House.

"It is not as much about who the speaker is as it is about what the speaker will be doing," said Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, whose threat to call a no-confidence vote on Boehner was a factor in the speaker's decision to step down.

Meadows said he and other members are calling for rules changes that would give House committee chairmen more authority. For instance, "if a committee reports a proposed piece of legislation, there should be some type of timeline for when that gets heard on the House floor." The way the House functions now, Meadows said, "the committee structure gets superseded by a few ideas that get hammered out at the last minute because we are in crisis mode."

Conservatives have expressed frustration that they are unable to get votes on the House floor on key issues — and when they do, the bills are doomed to fail because Democrats can simply block votes in the Senate. House leaders end up bringing bills to the floor that committees have never voted on.

Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, has proposed that if a lawmaker can get 150 or 200 signatories on a bill, that bill should be guaranteed a hearing in a relevant committee and presumably a vote on passage. The goal of such rules changes, he said, is that "members are empowered in some ways to bring legislation forward to have a vote on it and have their voices heard."

Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., has suggested changing the schedule so the House would be in session for full 40-hour weeks, beginning Monday morning and ending Friday evening. Jolly said this would create more time for legislative activity and force lawmakers to spend more time with each other, where relationships can be built and compromises hammered out.

Republican leaders are creating a new task force to advance some of these ideas. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, told colleagues in a letter over the weekend that the group will hold its first meeting Wednesday. The letter was co-signed by Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana, the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.

"We must find a mechanism that truly utilizes the talents and expertise of rank-and-file Members, and thereby empowers the American people — those who elected us to office," she wrote. "Our rules, procedures, and structures must change to empower individual members in the legislative process and allow their ideas to be included."

Jolly said the Republican conference is facing "several hard weeks of conversation" in the wake of Boehner's resignation to figure out a better process. He said one question indicates how broken House process has become: "Are we a Congress that before next November will actually consider the most important issue facing us and dominating the presidential campaign — border security and immigration? I doubt it."

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